About triggers and how they work



image avatar

Jennifer Rowe

Zendesk Documentation Team

Edited Nov 01, 2024


21

55

55 comments

image avatar

Brandon (729)

Zendesk LuminaryUser Group LeaderThe Humblident Award - 2021Community Moderator

Hey Clarice Matt

In this case, you'll need to update your macro actions to ADD tags, not SET tags.

Hope this helps!

Brandon

0


Our triggers are categorized into groups, will the run order still be from top to bottom of the whole list, or is it top to bottom within each group? 

For example:

Category 1:

trigger 1a

trigger 1b

 

Category 2:

trigger 2a

trigger 2b

 

Will triggers 1a and 2a run together or will 2a run after 1b? 

Thanks!

0


image avatar

Brandon (729)

Zendesk LuminaryUser Group LeaderThe Humblident Award - 2021Community Moderator

Hey Rebecca Katz,

The Triggers will run from top to bottom regardless of category (1A,1B,2A,2B).  This is why I recommend using the SANE method featured in this post.  Hope this helps!

Brandon

1


Perfect thank you again!

0


image avatar

Gabriel

Zendesk Customer Care

Hey Marc,

I hope all is well. Thinking about the scenario that you have described, if the ticket meets the condition of multiple triggers, all the triggers will fire. Note that every time a ticket is created or updated, all of your triggers run in a cycle against that ticket in the order the triggers are listed. However, I must add a personal note here and say that the best practice would be not to rely upon the order that the triggers are fired. Consider adding more conditions and make each trigger unique for each routing in this case. To help you, please check the list of trigger conditions and actions

I hope this helps!

 

0


Hi Zendesk,

I'm having a hard time with one of my triggers - if anyone can shed some light please?

What I'm trying to achieve:

1. Ticket is created via form
2. Based on a specific selection match
3. Send an auto-response to the requester email and place the ticket into a solved status
4. IF the end-user responds to the email
5. Open the ticket in Zendesk assigned view for a support agent to assist client

What is happening is, that even if the end-user responds - the trigger fires off the auto-response and solves the ticket again so the end-user is stuck in a loop.

How do I solve this issue please?

TIA

0


image avatar

Brandon (729)

Zendesk LuminaryUser Group LeaderThe Humblident Award - 2021Community Moderator

Hi Leandi Muller

It sounds like maybe what's happening is the original ticket is being moved via an automation from solved > closed.  Once closed, the ticket can't be reopened, so any response will create a net new ticket (which will get caught by the first Trigger).

To avoid this, you could extend the window a ticket stays solved, so the original ticket will just reopen.  Alternatively, you could condition the first Trigger to say "Channel" is not "Closed Ticket."

Hope this helps!

Brandon 

0


Hi Zendesk, I want to add a trigger to auto-assign new or open tickets ( which are not already assigned) to an agent based on ticket's latest comment ( while someone is referring it to an agent by adding a @ character).

For example - End user or CCed person or Other light agents comments on the ticket via Zendesk or via email " @Mike please look into this matter". So based on @ {{ticket.assignee.name}} , ticket should be assign automatically to that agent ( Mike).

I have added this line in a trigger but it is not working.
Please provide your support on this.
Thanks,

 

0


Is there a way to edit the dropdown fields for a trigger? It is easy with forms. Why the restriction with triggers?

0


Hello, 

We are testing the HubSpot - Zendesk integration, especially the one created by Zendesk.

I have an issue that I am curious if I can solve through the triggers.

When a new ticket is created and the contact is already in the HubSpot system, I want the flow to remain the same. The ticket is noted in the profile through one of the triggers. However, if there is not an existing contact in HubSpot is there a way for the ticket to enter HubSpot without generating a new profile? Might be like a task or HubSpot ticket or something else.

Thank you!

 

 

0


Can anyone think of a reason that a newly-created Text field would only allow "Present" and "Not Present" as the values for a trigger condition? I need to be able to set the trigger condition based on the value stored in the field, not just whether it exists or not.

This is driving me nuts:

1


image avatar

Dainne Kiara Lucena-Laxamana

Zendesk Customer Care

Hi PAUL STRAUSS,

 

For custom text ticket fields, it is expected that it would only show options "present" & "not present" for trigger conditions. More information can be found here: Using custom ticket fields in business rules and views

0


We switched to Zendesk a little over a year ago now - a lot has happened since :) We have grown by 3 brands, with multiple groups, of course all that meant loads of new triggers for routing tickets, as well as along the way trying to automate as much as we can. 

Now a couple of weeks ago, we were finally able to automate our clean brand separation, by adding a new workflow of triggers/tags etc. It seems that there is now some conflict between the new workflow and some of our old-workflows ..... long story short: is there a best practice recommendation on how to audit your trigger/workflows set ups once/twice per year? 

I know I can check how triggers fire, and come across individual cases were we can tweak things here and there. But I would like to perform a once/twice per year overall audit on our set up, to make sure nothing is falling of the radar. 

Hope this makes sense. Wasn't able to find anything on this online so far. Maybe someone here has some advice. How do you regularly make sure that your set up is 100% up to date and working properly on all ends? 

0


Does anyone know how "greater than" works in the context of setting a trigger condition using the Status field? If i set it as Status Greater than On-Hold will it work for both the Solved and Closed statuses?

0


image avatar

Brandon (729)

Zendesk LuminaryUser Group LeaderThe Humblident Award - 2021Community Moderator

Mike Jones - You are correct - that is exactly how that feature worked.  Similarly, less than solved is new, open, pending and on-hold.  It is worth noting though, that closed tickets cannot be actioned.

0


Good Day!

What is the best way to approach this if I want this trigger to fire when the ticket is created OR updated? Would I need to create two separate triggers? TIA!

ALL
Ticket | is | created

ANY
Assignee | is | Agent Name
Assignee | is | Agent Name
Assignee | is | Agent Name
Assignee | is | Agent Name

Action
Group | Department Name

0


I have set multiple triggers to navigate the action I'm trying to roll out. I need the conditions that will trigger an email to be sent to the assignee when a ticket is REASSIGNED to them from one user to another. The initial trigger of the ticket being assigned is active and working, but when it is reassigned to a different user, they aren't getting an email. Thank you for your help!

1


image avatar

Brandon (729)

Zendesk LuminaryUser Group LeaderThe Humblident Award - 2021Community Moderator

Hey Nayla McCarty - For this you'd most likely need two Triggers.  You can technically remove Ticket is Created and just use Ticket is {new open pending on-hold} or Ticket Status category is less than solved, but the best practice here would be to break it out into two.

Trista Garner - Your conditions should be as follows: 

Ticket is Updated
Assignee changed

Action: Notify Assignee

Hope this helps!

0


Triggers, like all business rules, must be smaller than 65kb

What does this mean in terms of the number of conditions? And if I have too many conditions can I simply create additional triggers if they are 'any' conditions?

 

Thanks. 

0


image avatar

Gab

Zendesk Customer Care

Hi Helen, 
 
The statement "Triggers, like all business rules, must be smaller than 65kb" focuses on the size limit for the overall definition of a trigger (or any other business rule) in Zendesk. This size constraint includes all aspects of the trigger's definition, such as the number of conditions and actions, as well as the length of any text used within them.
 
In practical terms, this means that the combined textual content of the trigger's conditions, actions, and any descriptions or comments must be less than 65 kilobytes in total. A kilobyte (kb) is roughly equivalent to 1,024 bytes, and since text is generally stored using one byte per character, a 65kb limit translates to roughly 65,000 characters.
 
Here’s what this implies for the number of conditions in a trigger:
 
  • There is no fixed number of conditions that equates to 65kb, as it depends on the specific text used in each condition (e.g., the names of tags or fields).
  • A simple condition with short text will take up less space than a condition with long text. The more complex each condition is, the more space it will consume.
  • Character Count: To maximize the number of conditions you can have in a trigger, use concise descriptions and consider the length of the field values you’re using.
  • The descriptive text within the conditions and names of the trigger also counts towards the 65kb limit.
 
To give an example, if an average condition string takes up 100 characters (including field identifiers, operators, and values), then you could theoretically include up to around 650 such conditions within a single trigger. However, in practice, conditions can be more complex, and other components of triggers like actions and descriptions must also be accounted for within the 65kb limit.
 
In Zendesk, if you approach the 65kb limit for a trigger, you may need to optimize your existing business rules by:
  • Combining conditions where possible
  • Splitting complex triggers into multiple simpler ones
  • Using more general conditions to apply to broader cases
  • Revising verbose descriptions to be more concise
 
Monitoring the size of your business rules is important to ensure they remain functional and within Zendesk's guidelines. If you run into the size limit, Zendesk will alert you when you try to save the trigger, and you'll need to modify it to decrease its size.
 
I hope this clarifies your concern. 

0


I arrived at this article because of the recent appearance of a notice at the bottom of each trigger. Does this mean that the system has detected a possible trigger loop? If not, is there a tool that will detect a loop in my trigger logic? The notice text is below:

 

Ticket triggers loopEvery time a ticket is created or updated, all of your triggers run in a cycle, firing and updating the ticket if the conditions are met. That means one of your triggers could update your ticket and restart the cycle again, looping through the trigger list several times.Learn about the ticket trigger cycle

 

I eagerly await your response.

0


image avatar

Hiedi Kysther

Zendesk Customer Care

Hey Frank Roberts 
 

You got a good question here. The notice is a general reminder about the possibility of creating loops with Zendesk triggers. It doesn't automatically mean that your specific trigger is causing a loop. It's just a friendly reminder to be mindful of how triggers can interact with each other and possibly create cycles if not set up correctly.

Hope this helps! 
 

0


Question, how to audit triggers -who created it, who edited, who modified? when was it created, modified or edited? I do not see it in any help article. Thanks!

0


image avatar

Hiedi Kysther

Zendesk Customer Care

Hi Maricar Paraiso 

To audit your Triggers, you can utilize the Triggers API. This will provide you with information on when the trigger was created and last updated. If you need to know who created or last updated a trigger, we will have to check our logs. Please keep in mind that our logs are only accessible for the past 30 days.

 


Hope this helps! 

0


Consigo criar uma gatilho de quando o agente alterar o status para “pendente" e após de 20 minutos sem o retorno do cliente esse ticket alterar para resolvido e enviar a mensagem dentro do mesmo ticket? 

0


Please sign in to leave a comment.